New Deck? - D&D Chinatown?

[KPopFever605]

*I wont make a new topic for this until we know more then 1 sentence*

https://twitter.com/#!/Ellusionist/status/162028709006675968

"Look out Chinatown Team Ellusionist is coming."

What would this mean 

It means more money out of our pockets into theirs. Also, it's more enthusiasts celebrating the Asian culture. Yay!   - By the looks of it, you'd can probably guess that I'm Asian, and yes I cam

I ordered a brick of them and shipping was $6
I was really surprised by the price! Its usually much more than that

Yeah I guess the shipping is good/bad depending on how many you order. It could be incentive to order a couple more deck. *shoulder shrug*

I think their catching the T11 Flu - they are doing the same thing too! I even mentioned it on one of my past threads.

[Aaron]

*I wont make a new topic for this until we know more then 1 sentence*

https://twitter.com/#!/Ellusionist/status/162028709006675968

"Look out Chinatown Team Ellusionist is coming."

What would this mean 

I dont think it is a deck because E is having their annual meetings this week and have been posting alot to FB I bet they are going to whatever town they are ins Chinatown

[Masque]

...when I ordered them, I change the decks from range 6-12 decks and the shipping price didn't change.

And this might be the reason of the minimum 4 decks as well, if you buy 4 decks that means you have around 8$ for shipping. But, for 3 or less, the shipping that included in the deck price isn't enough.

There was a problem with their site when they launched this deck. The 4 deck minimum and low shipping was a bug. A brick now costs $15 again, and 4 decks will still cost you $9.


Per deck including the least-expensive domestic shipping:


Fulton's Chinese New Year:
1 deck: $14.88
3 decks (5% off!): $11.10
6 decks (10% off!): $9.83
12 decks (15% off!): $8.79
144 decks (still 15%): $7.97



Okay, $8/deck shipped to your door seems very reasonable.  That's even a little less than Kickstarter prices!  Well, for one deck, anyway. But then you have 143 other decks to deal with. And if you're going to compare best-case prices… then let's compare to a fully custom deck:


144 Vortex decks, shipped, during kickstarter: $6.94
144 Vortex decks, shipped, during final Vortex sale (and due to the reseller package discount, you also end up with two uncut sheets!): $8.11
144 Revision One/Brimstone decks, from circlecitycards.com today: $5.10
1 Revision One or Brimstone deck, from Circle City today: $11.


Circle City charges you $3 for shipping one deck. Alex charges you $6.75, which is $0.75 more than D&D, but once you hit two decks Alex starts charging you less.  Ellusionist for a single deck offers you $6.70 for priority or $3.27 for "SuperSaver USPS". And in these three cases, only the Vortex deck costs more to start with, coming in at twelve cents more for a one-man operation with fully custom faces. And I highly doubt Circle City or Alex have streamlined their shipping methods and processes in the same way that D&D, Ellusionist, and T11 surely must have.


Feels like beating a dead horse at this point, so I'll stop. My point is that, unless you're a wholesale customer, this is a mighty expensive deck for three custom cards, a nice back, and a nice box. It is a VERY nice box, and a very nice back, and what custom faces were done are great!


Buy what you want, and what you like, but always be realistic about the costs involved.

[Don Boyer]

I'm a bit annoyed by the hike in price.  $8.88?  Come on now.  This hobby is starting to get a little ridiculous.

STARTING ? ? ?  This is a luxury hobby to begin with, my friend! 

Sometimes I don't think too much customization of a deck is good. Think of it this way. The only difference between our standard bikes, tallys and bees are the jokers, backs and AoS. So most of us perform with these cards and no one suspects a thing. So if we were to follow these tradition and only customize these 3 aspects of the deck, it would be great for performers. Sure it cost 8 times more for these as compared to the standard bees, bikes or tallys. But these are a limited run. Too much customization of a deck might cause the suspicion of the spectator but in the eyes of artist and collectors they are more awesome. It all comes down to what you are more of, a collector, artist or performer.

As a Chinese, I reckon this deck very suitable for the chinese new year occasion. The standard court cards and pips would also be suitable for use when we get together and gamble. I would definetly pick up one or two.

There are big differences between Bicycle, Bee and Tally Ho - stock and performance.  Bicycle is the largest selling brand in the world, Bee is the most popular casino brand in the US if not the world, and Tally Ho is actually not very common - outside of magic shops and online retailers, Tally Ho is a regional brand sold only within New York City.  They were more popular once, but they're more expensive compared to Bikes and consumers by and large usually go for what's cheaper rather than what's better (hence why Betamax failed as a consumer format, but succeeded as a format for local TV stations).

There's no reason to suspect any brand more and any other.  And honestly, more gaffs and rigged decks come in the Bicycle Rider Back than any other format today!  I'd be leery of anyone bringing a pack of Bikes to my card table these days!    As long as the design isn't something utterly outlandish, people have no more or less reason to suspect any deck more than they would (or should) suspect a pack of Bikes.

@magicaddictz we understand why it's priced that high, but it still seems ridiculous. Next thing you know there's gonna be decks inspired by events in 1999 and they'll charge $19.99 for it. It's a silly way to price a deck, in my opinion.

But it does go with the theme! And the price is high but its nothing ridiculous. $19.99 would be crazy by $8.88 isn't horrible

There's precedent for this sort of thing in Asian cultures.  Countless Chinese couples attempted to have a child that would be born on August 8th, 1988, and again on August 8th, 2008.  Pricing an object with lucky numbers like that actually makes them more desirable in many Asian cultures - given a choice between paying $7.99 or $8.88 for a given product, they'd rather pay the $8.88 for the luck they believe it would bring them.

And the price is high but its nothing ridiculous. $19.99 would be crazy by $8.88 isn't horrible

Remember that not everyone buys a brick at a time. What if you only want one deck?

You buy it from an after-market retailer.  Unless the deck's a rapid sell-out, they'll carry it for the same price as D&D, since it makes no sense to sell it for more, and they'll probably charge less than D&D in shipping.  It wouldn't surprise me at all to see this deck selling at BMPokerWorld or the1eyedjack for $8.88 in a week or two.

*I wont make a new topic for this until we know more then 1 sentence*

https://twitter.com/#!/Ellusionist/status/162028709006675968

"Look out Chinatown Team Ellusionist is coming."

What would this mean 

Simple - Ellusionist has some kind of "blow 'em outta the water" project waiting in the wings.  Probably a new deck, though it could be something else.  Maybe Pure Smoke color cartridges are finally coming out!

[Evan]

*I wont make a new topic for this until we know more then 1 sentence*

https://twitter.com/#!/Ellusionist/status/162028709006675968

"Look out Chinatown Team Ellusionist is coming."

What would this mean 

There is a big E team meeting right now in California and they're going to Chinatown... simple as that

[K]

I'm a bit annoyed by the hike in price.  $8.88?  Come on now.  This hobby is starting to get a little ridiculous.

for the chinese, 8 is considered an auspicious number therefore the price.. that is what i think anyway..

[Gunshy1]

ok people. raising the price on a deck just because 8 is a lucky number in china doesn't justify how much bull shit it is.

im not trying to troll this thread by any means. i am just bewildered by people being ok with the price. if the deck was revolutionary then yes it would make sense, but it is very far from it.

[K]

ok people. raising the price on a deck just because 8 is a lucky number in china doesn't justify how much bull shit it is.

im not trying to troll this thread by any means. i am just bewildered by people being ok with the price. if the deck was revolutionary then yes it would make sense, but it is very far from it.

i agree, raising the price for this isn't justified. If it was for the first Fulton's perhaps its reasonable due to the amount of customization.

[jriffel]

"Bicycle is the largest selling brand in the world, Bee is the most popular casino brand in the US if not the world, and Tally Ho is actually not very common - outside of magic shops and online retailers, Tally Ho is a regional brand sold only within New York City." 

Excuse me.......  Let's get a couple of things straight.  1) Bicycle is not the largest selling brand of playing cards in the world.  If you include all of the USPCC and Jardan corp, than yes the conglomeration is the largest selling in the world.  But, not Bicycle alone.   2) Tally Ho is not sold only in New York CIty.  There are plenty of sales of Tally Ho decks in many locations in these United States.

[munro159]

While I agree....using $8.88 because of its significane in Chinese culture is not a good excuse for overpricing a deck of cards....to me the thing that doesn't make sense is DandD's shipping.  I bought a brick of these and was charged $8.00 shipping in the US.  When my "Bucks" cleared off of that sale, I was going to purchase 4 decks of the vintage plaid since the "Bucks" would let me buy them at a discount (plus I'm a member so I already get %15 off).  They were going to charge me $12.00 to ship 4 decks when they charged me $8.00 to ship a brick. Needless to say I canceled the vintage plaid order.  As someone who occasionally sells on ebay, does it seem to anyone else thay charge outrageous pricing on their shipping.  Even using flat rate boxes they should be able to ship 6 decks for around $6.00 in the US.
 
Back on topic.....I really like this series so far.  The thing that maybe throws this series off IMO is the overpricing of the Chinatown decks and their high shipping rates!

[Don Boyer]

"Bicycle is the largest selling brand in the world, Bee is the most popular casino brand in the US if not the world, and Tally Ho is actually not very common - outside of magic shops and online retailers, Tally Ho is a regional brand sold only within New York City." 

Excuse me.......  Let's get a couple of things straight.  1) Bicycle is not the largest selling brand of playing cards in the world.  If you include all of the USPCC and Jardan corp, than yes the conglomeration is the largest selling in the world.  But, not Bicycle alone.   2) Tally Ho is not sold only in New York CIty.  There are plenty of sales of Tally Ho decks in many locations in these United States.

Bicycle is the largest if you cover ALL the decks made under the Bicycle name - and there are many.


Aside from a magic shop/specialty retailer, where outside of New York City or even the its Tri-State area have you seen Tally Ho?  Because it's the USPC themselves that consider Tally Ho a regional brand, that region being New York City, period.  It's similar to how I can get Mavericks all over the place in North Carolina, while they're pretty much non-existant in my area, or how I rarely see a Streamline deck outside of Wal-Mart.  I've actually spoken with Bill Schildman in their Sales Department about this - I helped him with tracking down counterfeit Bee playing cards selling at dollar stores in my area.

It's not impossible that you saw a few stray decks selling elsewhere, but USPC targets only NYC for retail sales of Tally Ho decks in brick-and-mortar stores.  Magic retailers request them, but otherwise the brand has become far less popular than it was at its heyday, owning largely to the fact that retail Bikes and Bees are cheaper.  Mr. Schildman mentioned that the large nationwide retail chains, pharmacy chains, etc. only want to carry nationally-recognized brands, and Tally Ho no longer fits that description, so there's no demand from them.  I travel a little and have yet to see Tally Ho at retail outside of either New York, the Internet or a magic shop.

[nimblewitted]

Got mine in today--I have to say, I'm unimpressed. I feel like the two colors on the backs aren't contrasting enough that it almost looks blurry. I wish Fulton would have outlined the dragon with some white borders or something to break up the drawings from the bright-red/almost orangish background. Once again, I feel like the site's images duped me into thinking they looked better than they actually are.

[Billywiz]

Got mine in today--I have to say, I'm unimpressed. I feel like the two colors on the backs aren't contrasting enough that it almost looks blurry. I wish Fulton would have outlined the dragon with some white borders or something to break up the drawings from the bright-red/almost orangish background. Once again, I feel like the site's images duped me into thinking they looked better than they actually are.

Whats the handling like with this deck? Are they the same as the Clip Joint deck?

[moonexe]

Looks like this deck is more disappointing with every news...
Though I have to say, it's not really that bad, it's really more about the price. If the price matched the quality of the deck, I'd be more tempted to buy it.

[LauR]

For $8.88 they could have at least used metallic ink

[Aaron]

Wow a "limited" deck printed at 5000 isnt sold out after a week from a Bigger Name Company

[Evan]

Wow a "limited" deck printed at 5000 isnt sold out after a week from a Bigger Name Company

Thats probably because they've been printing so many decks! People love their decks but not so many at one time because it makes it hard to afford. And probably not everyone likes the theme.

[Don Boyer]

This theme could have been much better executed, but it wasn't.  It's a decent-handling deck, but they blew some many opportunities to make this deck a real big-deal deck.  It doesn't even look like the back of a Chinese restaurant menu, as I stated before - it looks like the back of a counterfeit copy of a Chinese restaurant menu, or maybe a menu from a "comidas chinas" Chinese/Hispanic fast food take-out joint.  (You'd be surprised how many of those exist in New York...)

I'm glad I didn't buy more than three, and I don't plan on buying any additional decks.  When these wear out, I'm done with them.

While I can't argue with the quality of the cards (yet), the design is very disappointing.  There's a lot of wasted potential.

[zaganh]

i found this little coment to dan and dave hilarious

Shane Carter Just an FYI I posted that very ace of spades found inside Fultons deck of my own design on theory11s forums in 2008! Not happy!!

Dan and Dave Shane, there are several Chinese-Dragon themed decks on the market. We looked at each one as examples of what NOT to do. Although we have not seen your Ace design we find it hard to believe that it's anything close to what Brad Fulton conceived. Can you please post a link? Thanks.
Shane Carter (put another coment then delted it)

Dan and Dave Resemblance?

[dmbaggs]

So did they rip him off? I'm confused...

[zaganh]

So did they rip him off? I'm confused...

i have no idea i just saw the comments now thats all they were maybe he put more and delted them im not sure i doubt it i cant see brad fulton or dan and dave going through forums from 2008 looking for dragons haha a team who desighned somthing as amazing as the smoke and mirrors and clip joints wouldnt cut corners on a dragon i dont beleave the guy maybe he wants some free chinatown decks

[Siegismyname]

I googled and found this.

http://forums.theory11.com/album.php?albumid=73

It does have a certain resemblance. But I think the Chinatowns are more elaborate.

[Don Boyer]

I googled and found this.

http://forums.theory11.com/album.php?albumid=73

It does have a certain resemblance. But I think the Chinatowns are more elaborate.

They bear a resemblance in that they're both aces, and they both have a dragon.  Beyond that...


The Chinatown Ace of Spades is definitely the better of the two.  Finally, something nice to say about the Chinatown deck!

BTW: anyone get this deck and the Vintage Plaids?  The orange used on the red suits is IDENTICAL to the orange shade of red in the Vintage Plaid decks.  Aside from the yellowed background on the VPs, most of the cards are practically the same.

[Evan]

Good find Good@Sabacc!
Looks like D&D are getting lazier

[Don Boyer]

Good find Good@Sabacc!
Looks like D&D are getting lazier

It goes further - take the yellow on the VintPlaid and make it non-metallic gold: voila, you have Chinatown courts!


Lazy doesn't even begin to describe it.


At least the VintPlaid decks are traditionally cut and handle well.  I actually compared the FChina to the FCJ - FCJ feels like heavier stock!